SoulCycle, Riding with Jill Biden: Sacred Encounter, Unexpected Grace

My brothers in Christ, gather close. This is a story not of political division, but of the profound grace that emerges when we choose presence over judgment, compassion over confrontation.

Last year, in the pulsating energy of a SoulCycle studio, I found myself in an unexpected crucible of spiritual testing. Logan's class—a sanctuary of collective movement and shared intention—suddenly became a microcosm of our fractured national consciousness. Jill Biden, accompanied by her Secret Service detail, entered the space, and in that moment, I felt the weight of my own political convictions pressing against me like a heavy armor.

Let me be transparent: I fundamentally disagree with the political narratives championed by the Bidens, by Kamala Harris, by the established Democratic machinery. My heart beats with a different rhythm, a different understanding of governance and social responsibility. In that moment, I could have chosen separation. I could have allowed the energy of political discord to infiltrate this sacred space of collective transformation.

But something deeper called to me.

The studio—this temple of shared breath and movement—represents something far more profound than political allegiances. It is a space where human beings, regardless of their external identities, come together in a ritual of physical and spiritual synchronicity. Each pedal stroke, each breath, becomes an act of communion that transcends the artificial boundaries we construct.

In that moment, I recognized a fundamental truth: our shared humanity is infinitely more powerful than our political differences. The very act of showing up, of choosing presence over resistance, becomes a revolutionary gesture of spiritual maturity.

Jill Biden was not an opponent in that moment. She was a fellow traveler, a human being seeking connection, movement, transformation—just like every other soul in that room. My decision to remain present, to withhold judgment, to allow the sacred space of collective movement to be precisely that—a space of unity—became my most profound political statement.

We are called to something higher than partisan rhetoric. We are called to recognize the divine spark in every human being, even—perhaps especially—those with whom we fundamentally disagree. This is not capitulation. This is not weakness. This is the highest form of spiritual resistance.

My brothers in Christ, our power lies not in division, but in our capacity to hold space for complexity. To see beyond the surface-level narratives that seek to separate us. To recognize that true transformation happens not through confrontation, but through radical presence.

In that SoulCycle studio, riding alongside those I might politically oppose, I discovered a more expansive definition of love. A love that does not require agreement, but demands recognition of our shared humanity.

This is the revolution we are called to embody.

-Mitchell Royel